2007, 2010, 2013, and 2014 all have her name in the record books as the overall winner. Mara Abbott knows how to win the Tour of the Gila. The Boulder, CO native couldn't be a more approachable, kind-hearted competitor off the bike. Always sporting a smile and an upbeat outlook on life and her career, Mara Abbott is a true champion of women's professional cycling.

On the opening weekend of the Summer Olympics in Rio, the American cyclist Mara Abbott was involved in one of the most riveting and discussed moments of the 2016 Games — when she escaped in a solo breakaway and nearly won gold before she was caught by three chasing riders in the final meters and finished fourth. Abbott's daring effort in the race, and her gracious NBC interview afterward, were widely praised. This is her story of Rio.

"Here is what actually matters more than a medal: For the final race of a career, creating a performance that was truly your best. In which you were tactically exactly where you needed to be at every juncture. Where you overcame your errors of the past and superseded the weaknesses others ascribed to you. Where you took the layer upon imperceptible layer of learning acquired over a decade of wins and losses and embodied all the lessons. Those sorts of race days might be even rarer than pure victories. Yet here is what I will always sort of wish I had: An Olympic medal."

Beyond her athletic achievements, Mara is a passionate environmental journalist and advocate. Her series on the changing face of environmentalism — exploring how movements evolve, how new voices challenge old orthodoxies, and how communities navigate competing values — has been widely read and praised. She asks the question that matters most: not "Who is an environmentalist?" but "What is an environmentalist?"

Mara Abbott rides bicycles, sometimes writes things, and was born and raised at the foot of the Colorado Rocky Mountains.